One Life to Live
by JeanTre16
Summary: After the show's tragic ending, Alek fought to help Chloe establish a new Mai stronghold. With that accomplished, Alek now believes it's time for him to leave. For good.


**One Life to Live**

JeanTre16

Chapter One

Alek stormed out from the great hall. He'd argued with Chloe for the last time. "I can't do this anymore, " Alek said to the dark-haired male who trailed at his heels. "She never listens and constantly overrides everything I say."

"She's the Uniter," the shorter, huskier Mai said. "Trust her instincts."

Alek stopped in his tracks, causing the other Mai to sidestep a collision with him. The tall blond wore the look of a cat about to lash out at a dog in pursuit. Then, as though he thought better of the fight, he turned to resume his escape. "I'm leaving."

Alek left the baffled Mai, and several others, watching after him as he dashed for the exit of the Uniter's Headquarters.

An hour later, Alek answered a knock on his apartment door. A dark-haired Asian teen stood in the hallway. "Paul, what are you doing here?" Alek said.

"I miss you too," Paul said. He brushed past Alek and into the room without an invitation.

Alek closed the door and headed to his room as though Paul was not there.

Paul followed him. At seeing miscellaneous personal items and an opened backpack on Alek's bed, he frowned. "You're packing."

"I'm heading north," Alek corrected. He selected a pair of jeans and a shirt from his opened dresser drawer, and placed them in his pack.

"Why? What's up north?" Paul shrugged.

"Me, in a few days."

Paul walked over to the dresser and peeked in the empty drawer. He bit his lip. "Um, does this have to do with your argument with Chloe by any chance?"

Alek tuned on Paul, his eyes wide with agitation. "Is there anyone who doesn't know we argued?" His anger subsided and he shook his head. "No, it has nothing to do with that," he said in a quieter tone.

"Riiight." Paul didn't sound convinced. He pushed the empty drawer shut and slid onto the top of the low-lying dresser to dangle his legs. Then, perhaps because Paul had become accustomed to Alek's moods or to the aloof responses of the Mai, he pressed the subject. "You know, you're both stubborn, especially when it comes to…private things."

Alek faltered, as crack appeared in his emotional armor. "It's more than that…" He left his sentence unfinished. "Never mind. I can't expect you to understand." Alek's steeled façade resurfaced and he tossed the remaining personal items on the bed into his pack.

Paul watched from his perch on the dresser as the Mai zipped his bag. "Why? Because I'm human? Or because it's personal and damaging to your serious image as protector?"

Before Paul knew what came at him, Alek pounced in his face and gathered him by the shirt collar. "It's my job as protector to be serious," Alek said between clenched teeth. His eyes darted back and forth into Paul's, then Alek relaxed his grip and pushed the human backward. "_Was_ my job. Now someone else can worry about her." He reached out to straighten Paul's shirt, then retrieved his pack.

Paul loosed his tensed muscles, then brightened as though a light bulb went on in his head. "Whoa, whoa, whoa." He jumped off the dresser in pursuit of Alek, who was now in the living room. "Now I see what this is all about."

Alek stopped and looked back at Paul. "About? It's about nothing," he said. "I'm just tired of … this." He gestured around at the sterile, unlived in room.

Paul, either without sense of self-preservation for someone who had just been stared down by a Mai, or out of utter conviction that he was right about something big, held out a stern finger toward the Alek. "You can tell yourself you're done here, but the truth is you're still in love with Chloe and you'll always be in love with her no matter how far you run."

Alek faltered, like a cat caught off balance. "What?" He scoffed. "You're crazy! If there were any feelings, it was a long time ago." Though Alek lashed out at Paul's reasoning, there was no denying he'd once confided with the human about his feelings for Chloe. _This_, his leaving for good, had everything to do with that. He'd lived in the shadow of that human – Brian Rezza, who Chloe had given her heart to – for over two years now. He couldn't do it anymore.

He almost wished that Chloe had never given Brian that fatal kiss. At least if Brian had lived Alek wouldn't have harbored a false sense of hope that one day Chloe would somehow forget the human and fall in love with him. But that hope had faded.

Paul was right; Alek could no longer live in Chloe's presence with the constant reminder that her heart belonged to someone else. That hope had served its purpose. It had impassioned him to fight hard to defeat the Order's attack that left many Mai dead, including their San Franciscan leader, Valentina. It had fueled him to make sure that Chloe had relocated to safety. And now that the Mais respected her and she had enough support and guards to flourish, Alek had nothing left to fight for. Leaving was his last hope to live the one life that he had, unhindered by Chloe's seven remaining.


End file.
